Plenty of sports action this weekend

There's plenty of rugby, high school football and junior hockey action this weekend.

Tonight, the Cannex Cochrane Generals play their first pre-season game on the road against the Airdrie Techmation Thunder at Airdrie's Ron Ebbeson Arena.

Tomorrow, they're back at Totem One in the SLS Centre at 7:15 p.m. for the second in the home-and-home series.

It's the only glimpse we'll get of their 2024-25 edition until their home opener on Oct. 11.

Last weekend, the Gens wrapped up their training camp and we'll be carrying a slightly larger roster until final cuts are made for the regular season.

"We'll keep good number of guys out there to make sure that we always take the best look we can with all of our young players coming up," new head coach Derek Bell told Cochrane Now last week. "I mean, we're going to get a lot of young 17-year-olds from Cochrane especially wanting to come play junior hockey. We want to give them as much time and ample opportunities to showcase themselves, but still also not hang on to them too long so they can also go back and develop further with their own AA team in town as well."

High school football

The Cochrane Cobras are looking to make it 2-0 early in the Rocky View high school football season tonight on the road against Airdrie' Bert Church Charger.

On Saturday, the Bow Valley Bobcats are hold their officially season home opener against the Springbank Phoenix on the Spray Lake Sawmills Legacy Sports Field.

Head coach Dustin Paul says the players will charge through a balloon arch onto the field for the 1 p.m. game. The team is releasing its new hoodie at the game.

They also played on home field last week, but only because the field wasn't ready in time for the George McDougall Mustangs. The two-time reigning Rocky View champion Mustangs won the encounter 48-0.

Men's rugby semifinals

Both Bow Valley Rugby Club men's teams are searching to advance to the southern Alberta championship game.

Tonight, the Div. 3 Bow Valley/Foothills Lions team, better known to fans as the Ba Baas, are taking on the Calgary Irish at the Calgary Rugby Union (CRU) in southeast Calgary at 6:30 p.m.

The two teams split their regular season meetings.

The Div. 2 Bow Valley Grizzlies are looking for a win against the Calgary Canucks at 2 p.m. on Saturday, also at the CRU. They won their only regular season encounter, 47-36.

"It'll be a scrap tonight, and it could go either way," says Tyler Hawes, Grizzlies head coach. "And against the Canucks, it was a tight game during the season, and it should be fun to see how the boys perform. It's just going to be a good weekend of rugby."